Have you had a chance to catch up with the excellent set of free webinars that SLG conducted last year, in conjunction with the School Library Association? Members of either of these can access the webinars for free. For CILIP members, simply sign in to the CILIP website, and then come back to these pages to access the webinars for free. They can be found under the Webinars tab at the top of this page.
As we know, censorship of reading books or author visits in schools is creeping here from ‘across the pond’. There have already been a couple of instances of this happening in the UK. In these webinars you will learn about the importance of having a robust library policy, approved by your Senior Leadership, which asserts the rights under law of all students, and also stating that parents may object to their own children borrowing books but may not prevent any others from doing so as this violates their rights.
There are some excellent speakers, all experts in their fields. Kristabelle Williams is a school librarian, and a union rep. Barbara Band is an independent trainer with many years of school librarianship expertise. Alison Tarrant is the CEO of the School Library Association. Lucas Maxwell is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable school librarian. Alice Leggatt is on the SLG National Committee and has had personal experience of being censored for her choice of author to visit her school – Simon James Green. There is also an example library policy written by Caroline Roche, previous Chair of SLG who also has many years of experience behind her.
Finally, have a look at CILIP’s statement on Intellectual Freedom, which may help you to draft your own library policy, and will help you counter any challenges to your book stock.
If you have any questions, or need support, then contact the Chair of SLG in the first instance on chair.slg@cilip.org.uk